• Despite the gloomy predictions last week, this year's Oscars did better than last year's telecast: Ratings were up 13% according to Nielsen. [THR]
• Condi Rice has signed a three-book deal with Crown worth $2.5 million. [AP]
• The parent company of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News filed for bankruptcy protection on Sunday. [E&P]
• Some analysts are suggesting News Corp. shed its newspaper assets. [NYT]
• Conan's finale on Friday earned the show its best ratings in two years. [NYP]
• Ad guru Peter Arnell's rebranding work for Tropicana didn't work out as planned, and now the company says it will go back to its old packaging. [NYT]

Shocker: PepsiCo hired the profound geniuses behind the Breathtaking, universe-shifting multimillion-dollar tweaking of the Pepsi logo to redesign Tropicana's packaging. It was a complete and utter failure! Yet another reason "rebranding" is dumb:

Newly elected Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele plans an "off the hook" public relations offensive to attract younger voters, especially blacks and Hispanics, by applying the party's principles to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings."

Fox News added an asterisk to this advertisement only to responsibly admit that its competitors have tiny penises:

Last week we totally harshed on NBC's 30 Rock for writing McDonald's McFlurry into its script in such a sellout-y way. But it was all natural, no ad money, just for fun, allegedly!

Is Watchmen fever producing a tingly sensation in you? Then you may have an STD, brother! If only you'd slipped on the film's newest tie-in: a Crudup-emulating, cerulean rubber. Click to enlarge (ahem). [Robot 6]

It's no surprise that legendary author Gay Talese has yet to fulfill the three-book contract he signed with Knopf in 1991. He's spent the past few days crafting signs for homeless people so they can panhandle more effectively. Really. As he told one of the men he encountered on the street, "the big bankers and industrial leaders the government was bailing out had lobbyists and public relations companies doing their bidding," and if the men on the street had any chance, they'd have to "tap into the topicality of their plight." So he went home and made up a bunch of signs referencing President Obama and the stimulus bill, handed them out to people, and then "took down names and phone numbers," so he could follow up to see how they did. We're not sure how it is that homeless people now have phones, but perhaps that's just because Talese is already making a difference?

What's one of the only consumer products with steadily rising sales in the midst of this financiapocalypse? "Clinical" strength deodorant! Because Americans are growing nervouser and nervouser. Also we're all suckers!

Oh boy, this has instantly become our new favorite trend in advertising: Catvertising. It's advertising, on "trained" cats. The catch: fools, you cannot train a cat!

How did the Tumblr This Is Why You're Fat go from zero to 1.3 million pageviews in two days? How could it not?

Way back in October, people were already saying that NBC's 30 Rock had exhausted its "Yes it's a product placement, but it's also a funny storyline!" justification. Oh, how wrong they were. Mmm, McFlurry!

The silver lining of this recession has been found: sex and liquor ads are now all over prime time! Even Fashion Week people are grovelling before lube companies for sponsorships! It's nice.

Ha: Mazda, the corporate owner of merman Michael Phelps, made Phelps apologize to the entire nation of China for inhaling THC-laden smoke, from a bong. Just imagine the devastating effects that had, on China.

Courage; Good Judgment; The confidence to forge ahead. These are just a few of the attributes that businessmen who own private jets possess. Frugal businessmen who've given up their jets, however, are bitch-ass punks.

Let's say you just launched a new product line, or opened a small boutique. You desperately need to advertise your company, but you don't have the cash to buy ads in magazines or plaster billboards across town. What to do? The website Public Ad Campaign created an instructional video that explains how to open up break open a New York City phone booth, remove the silly poster for Verizon or Burger King or whatever, and replace it with a poster of your own. Yes, of course, it's totally illegal—and you'll need a bunch of tools to do it—but as evidenced by the video below, it's not like passerby will pay you any mind while to carry out your guerrilla ad campaign.

Last year Pepsi spent several hundred million dollars on a new logo. Everyone figured they had just ripped off the Obama logo. But now an internal document from the branding company has surfaced: Breathtaking bullshit.

Rasta don't work for no CIA. But Bob Marley now works for a private equity firm.

Sure, this new marketing strategy for 75 Wall Street isn't quite as posh as its website (or the campaign envisioned when the project was first announced), but at least they didn't scribble "Designed by David Rockwell!" in chalk. [Flickr]

McDonald's is providing the "official coffee" of New York Fashion Week in a bid to boost its image among fashionistas. Fat chance. But it will probably do something to Fashion Week's image.

Kellogg dumped merman Michael Phelps after finding out he smokes weed, even though everyone knows Frosted Flakes are so good, toasted. Now it looks like Subway—also great toasted!—is making the same mistake. [Update: Subway statement.]